Unsolicited Religious & Pseudoscience pamphlets/ads

While walking the dog tonight, I noticed fliers for a "Spiritual Therapist" who claims to be able to heal people with chakra balancing & aura cleansing slipped under the windshield wipers of every car on my block. These always end up as litter on the street.

Last week it was some Get Jesus or Burn in Hell pamphlet. And the week before that, Scientology crap.

Is it wrong that I want to gather them up and toss them into the recycling bin? Should I print out Think Atheist book jammers to place on the windshield next to their propaganda? Or just ignore it?

Replies to This Discussion

If they are stapled or tapped to every single pole tree and street lamp I go tear them off and toss them in the recycling bin. If I don't they will hang there till they eventually fall off and then the end up all over the place. The only ones I ignore are moving signs and lost pets.

My personal opinion is to ignore it. The thing I've found to be incredibly interesting, is that the faiths can agree to disagree and allow one another to send their messages, yet the instance we do the same, it becomes offensive and hateful.

To plays devils advocate on a completely different topic almost, the aura thing is actually true. Several years ago it was discovered that a Russian magnetic camera was able to read what were believed to be the human auras around the different chakras of our bodies. It lead to the conclusion that the auras were in fact real, however rather than spiritual energy, it was electromagnetism. This then further begs the question.. is spiritual energy electromagnetism, and is it controlled by anything other than our biochemistry and physics?

It may very well be that we can consciously influence certain physiological traits, and it may also be true that if done correctly this might promote feelings of well being, or even lead to measurable differences in our physical health. This, however, does not provide evidence of anything supernatural.

In some of the activities I've undertaken, part of the training for 'stress management' has included breathing exercises. You don't need to believe in anything, you just need to focus on ensuring that you are taking long deep breaths. If you are in a stressful situation of any sort, you will find that this gives you an improved clarity of thought. I've been told that this is because we tend to take quick, shallow breaths when under stress and that results in higher adrenalin levels. I'm not sure about the explanation, but I don't have to believe it in order to experience the physically tangible result of deep breathing.

I guess for a start I would like to recommend taking a deep breath when the sight of these things causes you stress (see my reply above). I can fully understand your desire to recycle these materials, but I am not sure if it is right to interfere with people who are only trying, in their own passive and inconsiderate way, to spread what they feel is an important message.

I've been tempted to collect these things for recycling as well, but I have never done so. As far as 'spreading the word' on atheism, I highly recommend a much more environmentally friendly approach. I make a point of posting a science based or atheist type video on my face book page once per week. Because I only post once a week, people in my 'friends' list tend to watch these videos, and would be unlikely to read an article of similar content. In this way I communicate who I am, what I believe, and I expose people to a bit of knowledge that they might not otherwise encounter. Just my two cents.

Childish behaviour , simply ignore . The power of atheism is logic backed by science . Motivation can be found in selfhelp under positive psychology (Selig) .Keep improving yourself in all things that matter . You're able to answer most of your own questions without much effort .